Over the past few years, multi-service broadband communications companies have invested heavily in developing and improving on the delivery infrastructure. For example, the U.S. cable industry has made fiber optics a centerpiece of a massive, multi-billion dollar investment program that has brought new capabilities to millions of cable customers. As a result, cable customers are able to connect to a high-capacity network that is powered by fiber-optic transmission lines. The investment in fiber optic lines has allowed cable companies to introduce increasing sophisticated services and equipment, i.e., set-top boxes (STB). Such services include Internet services, digital and high-definition television, On Demand TV, digital phone services and more.
In addition, over the past three decades, various U.S. satellite services have come and gone or combined. Satellite television is television delivered from ground stations to communications satellites wherein the signal is relayed to a satellite dish and set-top box of a subscriber.
Spurred initially by demand for broadband Internet service, operators have more recently recognized that the enhanced bandwidth and increased reliability of their networks would lend themselves to delivery of an even greater array of value added, revenue generating consumer services. Recently, digital video recorders (DVRs) have enabled subscribers to take control of their television.
A DVR is a device that records video in a digital format. Such devices may be implemented in stand-alone set-top boxes, portable media players (PMP) and software for personal computers which enables video capture and playback. DVRs make the “time shifting” feature (traditionally done by a VCR) much more convenient, and also allow for “trick modes” such as pausing live TV, instant replay of interesting scenes, and chasing playback where a recording can be viewed before it has been completed. Most DVRs use the MPEG format for compressing the digitized video signals.
Equipment manufactures continue to add features to DVRs that will make it easier to watch TV shows when you want to, plus make the whole experience more active. Furthermore, self-contained data networks are increasingly common in new homes and they are readily deployable in others via off-the-shelf, consumer-friendly solutions. That availability has many consumers interested in new ways of using their media throughout their home such as listening to the music stored on their PC via their home audio system, viewing video and photos stored on their PC on any TV in their home, or watching video stored on their DVR system on a laptop in another room.
Consumers crave having their content freed from the limitations of place, enabling uninterrupted, consistent content-driven services regardless of location. However, consumers are unable to use their existing technology to locate content while surfing the web, pause playback, then continue viewing the content via their set top box on their television, and then pause again and complete the experience in yet another location. Further, content maintained on a consumer's DVR located in a living room is not accessible to any other set top box or PC located throughout the home.
Thus, it can be seen then that there is a need for a system, method and computer-readable media that provides password control for multi-room digital video recording.